LTH @ Soup & Bread @ the Hideout - [Past Event]

LTH @ Soup and Bread Night, The Hideout, Wednesday, March 24

I'm hoping I can recruit a group of enthusiastic volunteers to help represent LTH Forum at Soup and Bread night this year.

Soup and Bread is a weekly, free soup dinner organized by Martha Bayne that takes place January through March. It is staffed by volunteers who cook and serve the meal at the Hideout, the bar and music venue. In 2009, its inaugural year, Soup & Bread Night netted $2,771 in donations for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The weekly event is a chance for strangers (kids welcome) to come together and share warm, homemade food, regardless of ability to pay. Donations collected this year are going to neighborhood food pantries and soup kitchens. The beneficiaries of donations from LTH's Soup & Bread night will be announced as the Soup and Bread schedule is finalized.

I see Soup and Bread night as a chance for LTH Forum, as a community obsessed with food, to pool our energy and resources to address hunger in the Chicago area.

What we need:
- Thoughts on what soups to make; we need 5 soups total, at least 5 crockpots worth, at least 2/5 that are vegetarian or vegan
- Volunteers to make & deliver soup to the Hideout on 3/24 or meet @ happy_stomach's house for soup-making on Tuesday, 3/23 (more info on soup-making below)
- Homemade bread, muffins or other soup accompaniments brought to the Hideout or made @ happy_stomach's house on 3/23
- Someone to drive happy_stomach and all of the soup to the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24 @ 4:30pm
- Volunteers to serve soup at the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24, 5:30pm-8:00pm
- Donations of soup ingredients (once recipes are decided on)
- Crockpots to use on Wednesday, 3/24 at the Hideout (we already have 2)

If you'd like to make soup together, I'll host soup-making night on Tuesday, 3/23 at 6:30pm at my home in West Town. I'll make a light dinner. Fun will ensue. Of course, volunteers are also welcome to make soup on their own to bring to the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24.

Please post here if you'd like to help in any way with LTH @ Soup and Bread Night. I'll post more details as we get closer to the date.

Thanks,
Sharon

Soup ideas
Cathy2 - meatball soup
boudreaulicious - garbanzo bean/Spanish bean soup
wendy - curried squash and red lentil soup

Volunteers for soup-making on Tuesday, 3/23 @ happy_stomach's house, 6:30pm
happy_stomach
petite_gourmande
wendy
boudreaulicious
eli

Volunteers to make soup/bread on their own to bring to the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24
David Hammond - soup TBD
Cathy2 - soup TBD
G Wiv - kneifla (beef soup with dumplings)
stevez - cream of tomato
mbh - white bean soup with a ham-hock base, corn bread, butter
rubyred - bread & butter

Volunteers to serve soup at the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24, 5:30-8:00pm
happy_stomach
David Hammond
Cathy2
petite_gourmande
wendy
boudreaulicious
G Wiv
eli
rubyred

Volunteers to donate ingredients/lend supplies
Crockpot - happy_stomach
Crockpot - David Hammond
Crockpot - Mhays
Crockpot - petite_gourmande
Crockpots (2) - boudreaulicious
Crockpot - mbh

Volunteers to help drive happy_stomach & soup to the Hideout on 3/24 @ 4:30
wendy
mbh

Hi,

I can make soup to bring. If you don't like what I suggest and/or someone feels more passionate about their offering, I can do breads. I made recently meatball soup, which my family and I liked quite a bit. The meatballs simmer in the tomato-chicken broth before serving. It tasted just a fresh and the meatballs stayed tender with reheating.

I don't precisely own a crockpot. I have this fryer to crockpot thing I use for canning. It might be better I make the soup in a stock pot to bring. I can use someone else's crockpot for reheating.

I can help serve, too.

Thanks for arranging this volunteerism opportunity.

Regards,

A word of experience... reheating in the crockpots at the Hideout took forever.

I brought mine in my dutch oven and did Bruce's BBQ trick of heating a cooler with hot water, wrapping the dutch oven in towels in it, and transporting that way. It worked great.

Cathy, I'm still figuring out whether we can do this on a school night or not - but I do happen to have a spare crockpot that you're welcome to use. LMK how I can get it to you.

Mike G wrote:A word of experience... reheating in the crockpots at the Hideout took forever.

I brought mine in my dutch oven and did Bruce's BBQ trick of heating a cooler with hot water, wrapping the dutch oven in towels in it, and transporting that way. It worked great.

Bruce's trick has saved me many, many times.

Thanks!

Regards,

I will help cook on Tuesday night, serve at the event. I have a crock pot that is not a new model nor an extra large one, but it will work, I hope, haven't used it in a loooong time. Should I bring the crock pot to your place on Tuesday night?

Great idea! Sign me up - I can help with all/any of the following:

- Meet @ happy_stomach's house for soup-making on Tuesday, 3/23
- Someone to drive happy_stomach and all of the soup to the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24 @ 4:30pm
- Volunteers to serve soup at the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24, 5:30pm-8:00pm

Hi,

FYI - Meatball soup recipe for those who inquired via PM.

Regards,

Count me in for both soup-making and serving. I have 2 large crock pocks that I am happy to bring. I make alot of soup but my favorite is a garbanzo bean soup. Growing up in Tampa we called it Spanish Bean soup--probably has more of a Cuban heritage than spanish...it is very hearty (there is ham, chorizo and bacon in it so it's not veg...) I'll make whatever anyone wants though.

Thank you everyone for the great responses so far!

Cathy2 wrote:I can make soup to bring. If you don't like what I suggest and/or someone feels more passionate about their offering, I can do breads. I made recently meatball soup, which my family and I liked quite a bit.

Meatball soup sounds good to me.

Mike G wrote:A word of experience... reheating in the crockpots at the Hideout took forever.

I brought mine in my dutch oven and did Bruce's BBQ trick of heating a cooler with hot water, wrapping the dutch oven in towels in it, and transporting that way. It worked great.

Thanks for this advice. I'll also have a trial run at Soup & Bread night since I'll be cooking and serving with folks from Gapers Block the first Wednesday in March, so I'll have a better sense of the back end of the event to share, too.

petite_gourmande wrote:I will help cook on Tuesday night, serve at the event. I have a crock pot that is not a new model nor an extra large one, but it will work, I hope, haven't used it in a loooong time. Should I bring the crock pot to your place on Tuesday night?

Let's wait and see. We have several crockpot loan offers, so not everyone may need to bring a crockpot to my house or the Hideout. I'll post here with an update on our crockpot needs as we get closer to that week in March.

boudreaulicious wrote:I make alot of soup but my favorite is a garbanzo bean soup. Growing up in Tampa we called it Spanish Bean soup--probably has more of a Cuban heritage than spanish...it is very hearty (there is ham, chorizo and bacon in it so it's not veg...).

"Beans and bacon" is my favorite food alliteration, so I'm game for helping to make Spanish Bean soup. I've added it to the above list of soup ideas.

happy_stomach wrote:I'm hoping I can recruit a group of enthusiastic volunteers to help represent LTH Forum at Soup and Bread night this year.

H_S,

Count me in for both serving and bringing soup, which will be my brides, by way of her mother, Kneifla (beef soup with dumplings). I will bring a crockpot.

Enjoy,
Gary

I will be happy to both make and bring soup. Since some veggie soups are needed, I'll make cream of tomato soup.

This sounds like a great idea. I'd love to help with making soup on 3/23 and serving on 3/24.

- Volunteers to make & deliver soup to the Hideout on 3/24

- I'll make a white bean soup with a ham-hock base and bring a crock pot.

- Homemade bread, muffins or other soup accompaniments brought to the Hideout

-I'd be happy to make cornbread and butter.

Someone to drive happy_stomach and all of the soup to the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24 @ 4:30pm

- I think this is covered, but if not I'd be glad to drive or be an extra car for anyone else who needs a ride.

- Volunteers to serve soup at the Hideout on Wednesday, 3/24, 5:30pm-8:00pm

- I'll be there and bring a crockpot to serve my soup in.

I love soup night at the Hideout, thanks for organizing for such a good cause.

Wowzers. This is stupendous, everyone.

I know that soup often/always runs out at Soup & Bread, but I'll check with Martha today to see if there's a maximum quantity we should be aware of. I say, the more people we can feed, the better, but I also want to make sure that we don't have waste (not that we wouldn't or someone wouldn't just take home leftovers).

I'm excited!

Hi --- will be happy to bring some bread and butter and help with serving, clean-up ect. I will be coming with MBH who is bringing soup and look forward to the event. Thanks Rubyred.

Happy_stomach

If you are still in need of vegetarian/vegan soup options, I tried out a curried squash and red lentil soup recipe this weekend. Very flavorful. It even won high marks from my carnivorous SO.

I'm really looking forward to this event.

Wendy

rubyred wrote:Hi --- will be happy to bring some bread and butter and help with serving, clean-up ect. I will be coming with MBH who is bringing soup and look forward to the event.

Wonderful. Thank you.

wendy wrote:If you are still in need of vegetarian/vegan soup options, I tried out a curried squash and red lentil soup recipe this weekend. Very flavorful. It even won high marks from my carnivorous SO.

Thanks, wendy! It sounds good to me. I'll add it to the list, and we can review all of the soup suggestions early next month and figure out which we'll need.

happy_stomach wrote:Thanks, wendy! It sounds good to me. I'll add it to the list, and we can review all of the soup suggestions early next month and figure out which we'll need.

That's a good idea. I may want to change the type of soup that I make. Lately I've been experimenting with a new version of an Italianesque veggie soup that I may want to make instead of the cream of tomato.

I was just looking over my schedule and realized that I'm leaving for vacation on 3/25. I don't think I'll be able to make it to help serve on 3/24, but I'd still like to help with the soup-making on 3/23 if that's ok.

happy_stomach wrote:I'll add it to the list, and we can review all of the soup suggestions early next month and figure out which we'll need.

Hi Sharon,

Have you settled on which soups you want? If you don't want my meatball soup, it's not a big deal. I can shift to bread. If you can offer a sense of direction, I will know what to do.

Best regards,
Cathy

eli wrote:I was just looking over my schedule and realized that I'm leaving for vacation on 3/25. I don't think I'll be able to make it to help serve on 3/24, but I'd still like to help with the soup-making on 3/23 if that's ok.

Cathy2 wrote:Have you settled on which soups you want? If you don't want my meatball soup, it's not a big deal. I can shift to bread. If you can offer a sense of direction, I will know what to do.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I'm in the middle of a very stressful move.

I'm afraid I won't be able to host soup-making on 3/23 because I won't have a kitchen (or an apartment) on that date, so it would be great if we could have folks bring soups and bread they've made at home and then have a team to serve on 3/24 (there can be overlap with people cooking and serving).

Cathy, I think your meatball soup would be terrific, if you're still willing to make it.

For the others who offered initially to make food, are you still able to do so?

David Hammond - soup TBD
Cathy2 - soup TBD
G Wiv - kneifla (beef soup with dumplings)
stevez - cream of tomato
mbg - white bean soup with a ham-hock base, corn bread, butter
rubyred - bread & butter

I told Martha Bayne we'd be bringing 5-8 soups and some bread.

Thanks,
Sharon

Hi,

I bring the meatball soup courtesy of Cook's Country.

Regards,

Since I can't make soup, I will bring bread and butter.

I can pick bread up at Costco, is there any suggestions as to which type and how much to bring?

Update: On second thought, I won't have time to make it to Costco, so will pick something up in the Loop.

I'm still in, but I may change the type of soup I make.

I'm still in and if you need a ride let me know and I'll pick you up. Good luck with the move.

I'm still up for making soup if you need it (was going to make Spanish Bean Soup). Or I can bring bread (but, trust me, you don't want me to bake it!!) Or I can just help serve. Whatever is needed.

If we do make soup, what quantity is desired (I only saw a reference to "a crockpot's worth" --I have 3 and they are all different sizes )

I can bake bread.

I can still make curried squash/lentil soup (vegan) and serve at the event.

Cathy2 wrote:I bring the meatball soup courtesy of Cook's Country.

petite_gourmande wrote:Since I can't make soup, I will bring bread and butter.

Update: On second thought, I won't have time to make it to Costco, so will pick something up in the Loop.

stevez wrote:I'm still in, but I may change the type of soup I make.

mbh wrote:I'm still in and if you need a ride let me know and I'll pick you up. Good luck with the move.

boudreaulicious wrote:I'm still up for making soup if you need it (was going to make Spanish Bean Soup). Or I can bring bread (but, trust me, you don't want me to bake it!!) Or I can just help serve. Whatever is needed.

If we do make soup, what quantity is desired (I only saw a reference to "a crockpot's worth" --I have 3 and they are all different sizes )

gastro gnome wrote:I can bake bread.

wendy wrote:I can still make curried squash/lentil soup (vegan) and serve at the event.

Wow. This is like the LTH Soup-Superhero Crew. Fantastic, everyone! Since wendy is making a vegan soup, we could probably use one more vegetarian, and any other soups can have meat. Those making soup should plan to make a gallon. If making that much is a problem, bringing less would be OK, too, since we're brining several kinds of soup.

Here's an updated list as of today:

Soup:
Cook's Country Meatball Soup - Cathy2
TBD - stevez
Spanish Bean Soup - boudreaulicious
White bean soup with a ham-hock base, corn bread, butter - mbh
curried squash/lentil soup - wendy
Kneifla (beef soup with dumplings) - G Wiv

Bread:
petite_gourmande
gastro gnome, aka Super Bread Baker

Serving:
happy_stomach
mbh
Cathy2
petite_gourmande
wendy
boudreaulicious
others...

I am a nomad right now without a kitchen, but it is very likely that that will change shortly before the 24th, so I will bring soup or bread, whatever might be needed, so long as I have a kitchen. At the very least, I will bring nametags and any other non-food supplies Martha thinks we should bring. mbh--if it's OK, I'll let you know closer to the 24th (not last-minute though) if I need a ride?

Finally, the beneficiary for the LTH Soup & Bread night will be the food pantry at the Howard Area Community Center. Hooray!